Divide that by 40" (a conservative estimate of the usable with of the fabric)= 6.8.

Round up to the nearest whole number, which is 7.

This is the number of binding strips needed.

I cut the strips 2.25" wide.

If you wish, you can cut them 2.5" instead.

For this quilt I am making scrappy binding. Since I am using various lengths of several fabrics, I will make sure that once they are all joined together they total at least 272".

Trim the ends of each strip at a 90 degree angle.

This is a very important step for accuracy.

Place two fabric strips right sides together making a 90 degree angle.

Press down the corner and iron.

Fold fabric back into place. See the crease? That will be your seam line guide.

Pin.

Sew on the crease, back stitching at the beginning and the end of the seams.

Trim corners leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.

Iron seam, pressing the fabric to one side.
Connect all your strips in the same manner.

Iron in half lengthwise.

And your binding strip is done.

Part II-Attaching the binding to the quilt.

Before I start sewing my binding to the quilt, I like to lay it out and do a test run to make certain that the seams don't end up on the corners of the quilt, as this makes the mitering of the corners very difficult. I like to start laying out the binding about a quarter of the way down the quilt on the right hand side. (see sketch below.)
this seam is about 6" from the corner...

and this one is 4" from the corner...

which is about as close as you want to be...just in case things shift a bit when you are sewing.

pin the beginning of the binding strip to the quilt, and then place a pin about 10" after that.

using the second pin as your starting point, sew (with a walking foot) the binding strip to the quilt using a 1/4" seam allowance.
when you are nearing the corner

stop and place a pin 1/4" from the bottom of the quilt.

continue sewing until you reach the pin

leave the needle down, and pivot your quilt 90 degrees

back stitch to the edge of the quilt and remove from the machine
it should look like this

take the binding strip and flip it up

and fold it down onto itself again

start 1/4" from the top and continue attaching the binding

it should look like this

repeat for all sides of the quilt

when you get to about 8" from the starting pin, stop and back stitch

remove the quilt from the machine (edited to add, if you would like to miter the two ends, see update below)

measure the binding so it overlaps by 1/2" and cut

open the binding

pin, right sides together
and sew together with a 1/4" seam allowance

finger press the seam open

line up the binding to the quilt edge(you can pin here, if desired)

and sew the seam, joining up where you first started

then I like to trim my edges with pinking shears, near the edge of the fabric

edited to add:
here is an easy way to join the final two ends of the binding strips using a mitered joint:
when you get to about 8" from the starting pin, backstitch and take the quilt out of the machine.

measure an overlap equal to the width of your binding. if the binding strips are cut at 2.25", measure the overlap to 2.25".

mark it and cut the piece to length.

open up both tail ends

fold the left strip as shown in the photo. finger press the fold line.

pin the ends together as shown.
optional: use a water soluble marking pen to draw the 45 degree angle.

while the pins are still in place, you can test the seam to make sure that everything is pinned correctly and that nothing is twisted.

sew on the line/fold.

trim off the triangles leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.

finger press the seam open

fold the binding strip in half once again, pin in place.

sew the binding strip in place. trim off edges. Proceed to part III.

Part III-Hand stitching the binding

hide your knot in the seam

flip the quilt over and tack the binding down (I'll let the photo explain.)

I have seen several tutorials showing binding....but I love this one....definitely great for someone who is new. I always have trouble with joining the ends and yours looks totally doable. I cannot wait to try it.

I'm curious why you don't sew your two ends together on a diagonal when you join the beginning and the end. All your other joins are on the bias. If you do a finger press fold on the two ends, just shy of actually meeting, then open them up, stick a pin in the centers and put them at right angles, you can sew them and have a bias join.

This tutorial is excellent! Thank you so much! I recently started quilting and I have a lot of quilt sandwiches without finished bindings because I just can't seem to get it right. I'll take a stab at it again after looking at this. Thanks for taking the time to put it together and post it for us! :D

What a great tutorial. The binding is the part I hate most about quilting. I had a finished quilt top sitting in my WIP pile for 2 years because I couldn't bear the thought of sorting the binding out. I did it eventually - but I wish I'd seen this first! LOL. Definitely going in my favs for the next quilty project.

Thanks! Great tutorial. Please can you also add how you "cast off" (?) the sewing when you either reach the end of the thread or finish the binding. It is a mystery to me and I always end up making a complete mess of a knot which is difficult to hide!

This is such a great tutorial. It answered so many questions I have had for a long time, and also gave some great new ideas that had never occured to me, like pinking the edge of the quilt. Thanks so much for taking the time to make this tutorial.

When sewing on bindings I've been doing it basically the same way but when I turn the corners I never did the last stitching that you show before folding the miter. Your way looks simpler so I'm going to try it. And I haven't tried joining the ends the way you did. I saw it demonstrated on Fons & Porter but with a diagnonal seam and I haven't had the nerve to try that method, so I still use another one that I learned. Your tutorial is great, easy to understand, and I will put your methods to use next time. Thank you.

Great tutorial. I'm goin to try the pinking shears idea. When I get to the end, I overlap my binding the exact measurement of the width of the binding and then sew a diagonal seam like in the first steps.

Thanks for the tutorial. I didn't know about backstitching at the corner. That would make mitering easier. I often use Elmer's school glue instead of pins while joining the strips and I like to angle the last join when I'm attaching the binding.

Binding used to be the hardest part for me. My way is only slightly different than yours, but I like your way better. I used to trim the quilt first and then attach the binding, but I always got crooked edges. This way looks very neat. Great tutorial.

Thanks so much. I, being new at quilting read your blog all the time. I like the idea of using all the different colours on the binding. It makes it look so interesting. I will try this in the future. Corners, excellent guide. It must have taken forever to upload this tutorial. So appreciated.

This is an excellent tutorial! I'm new to your site and I'm already loving all the inspiration I'm getting here! I'm also new to sewing so your tutorials come in VERY handy - thank you so so much! :)elaine t

Thank you so much for this great tutorial. I was wondering how you did your binding and love the idea of different colors. I'm new to quilting and just love reading your blog. It's been so helpful! I've learned so much. Thank you for all the inspiration!

I have to say that this must be the best binding tutorial out there. Thanks Amanda!I do it almost like it, but will make sure I upgrade. I like the idea of trimming with pinking sheers, it probably helps with the bulkiness around the edges and looks good.How about the pictute of finished quilt???

Wonderful tutorial! This is very helpful as I tend to try and help my cousin over the phone with techniques and this will be great for us to reference to!Thank you so much for everything - your blog is awesom!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE TO ME AND I UNDERSTAND IT. I'M EVEN MORE EXCITED NOW AND SHOULD HOPEFULLY GET STARTED THIS WEEKEND, BUT WITH HOW MY SCHEDUAL GOES, IT WILL PROBABLY BE FOREVER BEFORE IT'S DONE.

Thank you! Thank you! It all makes sense now. I bunch of posts ago you posted a link to a site that taught how to bind and frankly it left me puzzled! This is so much clearer. Thank you for taking the time to explain with photos and all! I love your site!

Thank you for the well explained tutorial. I have 2 quilts sitting in my guest room that need binding. I dread the binding part, just dread it because I always make a mess of my binding. This should help tremendously.

thanks for posting such detailed pictures! The hand sewn binding on the back of my quilts is always so sloppy so it's great to see how to hide the knot and tack on the back (I usually use a diagonal whip stitch)

NOW, I see what I was doing wrong with my mitered corners. After I folded the corner up and then backdown, I sewed from the very edge instead of starting 1/4" in. That explains everything! Hmmm, I don't think I've ever had that explained well. Too bad I JUST put a binding on my rag quilt yesterday!!THANK YOU SO MUCH AMANDA!~jane

Great tutorial! You explain things very nicely for beginners. I'm curious about one thing . . . why don't you do your final join as a diagonal bias seam too? The join lays much flatter that way, and makes it impossible to tell where it is because it looks like all the other joins. I've been doing it that way for years and find it lays much better.

Not trying to tell you that your way isn't right - of course it is, as there are no quilt police - I'm just curious as to your reasoning behind this.

once again, BRILLIANT! What can I say. Thank you. EACH and EVERY binding tutorial on-line I've seen has just NOT been as detail oriented as yours, and I've ended up doing mine as straight-offs. I CANNOT wait to try my mitered binding now - you truly make it look so simple. PHEW! ;)

(PS - STILL finishing up baby quilt #3, and then I'll tackle my star quilt along, and I promise to show pictures on flickr...)

Sorry to be boring and repetitive but Great Tutorial! I like the use of the iron to identify the seam line when sewing the strips together. I also like the pictures of the upclose mitered corner - I've frequently given up and done the corners by hand because I've sewn too far. Thank you.

I cannot wait to see this quilt all finished! I love green, and your colors look fantastic. I love to look at your work. You do such a great job, and it feeds my fix for when I don't have time to quilt.

This is a super tutorial, thank you so much! I have yet to bind a quilt, I only have one top done, because I was scared. You make it look so easy. I will definately be coming back here when it's time to bind.

You just will not believe this but I have finished everything on my 25 year old quilt except the binding. I could not believe it when I saw this tutorial. I am still working on the other 2 quilts also, so please don't take them off of your blog. Still working on them. As always, thank you.

Like others, I think this is a very well made tutorial. Lots of photos really help!

But also like others, I wonder WHY you don't put that last seam in the binding itself on the diagonal. Is there a reason?

When I get to that point, I overlap the binding ends, and cut so the overlap is a "smidge" less than my binding width (2.25" in your case and mine). Then handle just like you did for all the binding joins.

And for the person who hates the hand work---I sew my binding on the BACK of the quilt. Then bring the binding around to the front and machine sew it down. I line up the crack in my sewing foot right on the edge of the binding, then move my needle one position to the right. That assures me that I will always catch the fold, but not by much!

Great tutorial! There are so many photos, which is great. A lot of tutorials don't have enough, I think. I'm making a ragged squares quilt...thanks for your post on that. Its really pretty and I think it could showcase decorative stitches. I take FOREVER to pick out fabrics, though. I hate that about myself!! lol!

Amanda Jean...that's the same way I bind my quilts! Love how clearly you wrote your directions with very clear photos...I'll be bookmarking this post for future reference when I'm not totally on my game! Thanks!

I think your tutorial saved my life. Or at least my quilt. Not only is that the most clear demonstration of how-to-bind I've seen, but I didn't think of doing a scrappy border (and I was stuck because I didn't have enough of the fabric I was dead set on using). I just wish you had included a finished picture of your quilt.

I love that you added the pictures to demonstrate tacking down the binding on the back of the quilt... this is where all the other tutorials out there jump ship and the part that I'm most apprehensive about!

Well Done! The photos are very clear. I do my quilts like this too, the only thing I do differently is join the final seam of the binding on a 90 degree angle too - just like you joined the other strips.Happy quilting!

Thanks so much for this great tutorial. The timing was perfect as I read your post yesterday I was just about to sit down and make binding for a table runner. I decided to try two different fabrics sewn together on the diagonal the way that you describe. It was so easy and looks way better than the straight across way I usually do it.

I tried this last night and I have to say that I LOVE it! It was slightly more time consuming than the way I was taught but the end result was totally worth the extra time! I do have one question... do you square your quilts before binding them? It doesn't look like you do in the pictures. I was taught to square the quilt and take all the excess fabric off before putting the binding on. I'm just trying to figure out which way gives a better result. Thanks!

This is such an excellent tutorial! Thank you so much for sharing, all your little bits of advice & great photos will help get out those 'kinks' I always come across in my bindings.One question, curious as to why you trim the edges with pinking shears after the binding has been stitched & is ready to be hand sewn on the other side?Thanks again :)

about trimming with the pinking shears....I used to trim my batting and the quilt back with regular scissors right at the ourside edge of the binding, but then sometimes the binding wouldn't be full because i had trimmed off too much fabric. this way it allows the binding to be full but not too bulky...it gives some wiggle room. does that make sense at all? I hope so. but if not, I'll try to explain it further.

Thank you so much for this tutorial. I was asked by a quilting friend if I could learn how to bind so I could bind her quilts. So she found this tutorial and I gave it a try. For someone who has never quilted before, I was able to successfully bind a "practice" quilt. The only thing I did wrong was I sewed the binding on the back of the quilt instead of the front so my nice seam was on the back and my stitches were on the front. OOps! I guess a quilter would have known that. Anyways, this tutorial is easy even for a beginner like me!

ditto to what jacquie said -- there have been two things about binding that i haven't been able to master. your tutorial was the best explanation yet of joining the ends -- i just bound 2 mini quilts and the ends lined up perfectly on both. now on to my other dilemma ... i don't know how to hand stich at the corners!

Can I just say that I love you. LOL. I have been sitting here with a quilt for my niece (born in March by the way) um yeah, and too afraid to move forward with the binding. I have a billion tutorials on bindings and I searched through all my stuff because I knew this one was in there somewhere. You have made sense out of something I could NOT wrap my warped brain around. I greatly appreciate the time and effort U took from your schedule to help with this! Thank you so much!

very nice tutorial. i had been using one from a quilt book i purchased but there were a few things in your tutorial that simplified the binding process. i especially liked the ironing the crease when sewing the strips together. i had been marking them with a fabric pen before! so much easier!! :)

I am having trouble tacking the binding. I noticed that your stiches are so neat. Do you have any suggestions? You can always see my stitches. I hate it! Please help! BTW, I love your blog and check it everyday! You are such an inspiration!

you can always see my stitches on the back of my quilts, too. i think practice, practice and more practice helps. and if you use a thinner thread, that helps hide the stitches, too. i usually use hand quilting thread to tack down my bindings, but if you use regular thread, the stitches show much less. i hope this helps!

Thank you so much for the wonderful tutorial! I just completed binding my first quilt, and there is no way I could have done it without your instructions. I knew the general idea of how to bind, but was going to guess my way through it. Luckily I found your tutorial! Wow, your pictures and instructions were so easy to follow! My binding turned out great!

AJ, in the mitering pics of the binding tutorial, it looks like you have sewn on the binding with twin needles. What are the two seam lines for? One is the binding but what is the second one? Is it a basting stich for your quilt sandwich? Thanks!

i didn't sew the binding on with twin needles. after the quilt is quilted, i sew around the perimeter near the edge of the fabric to tack down all the edges. then i sew on the binding. a friend told me about that tip. she said that it makes the binding easier to attatch and the quilt has a smoother finish. does that make sense? i hope that helps.

Muuah! Thank you so much for your PERFECT explanation. I needed this to help me with my first attempt at binding a quilt properly! I mentioned you here:http://nikkifilosa.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/binding/Thanks again!!! nikki

I don't mind being the millionth person to say thanks. That tutorial was wonderful. The binding was so daunting on my first quilt but I always (try to)finish a project so I researched and yours was the best! My binding looks...great for a first one!

Thank you so much for this tutorial! When I am creating something, I like to make it as best as I can and start out using correct methods, and this was definitely true for the binding on my first quilt that I just finished this morning. I was able to follow your tutorial because you did a fabulous job with descriptions and photos along the way. And then I was able to put it into action. My binding is the most beautiful part of the quilt. Thank you for such a great tutorial!

Love the tutorial , I make scrappy binding 90% of the time as I love the look my question is how do you know where to sew edge of binding to keep it square if you do not pre square the quilt . I have always lined up on the edge of quilt , please explain..

This is the best information I have ever seen on doing this! I am going to post a message on my blog, telling everyone who reads it to come to yours and get ready to make great bindings!(if that is permissible) Thanks you so much for all the time you put into doing this.

I used your tutorial when I did my first quilt and just recently was looking for a good tutorial, but I had forgotten where this was (with so many quilting blogs out there). So glad to find this again because the one that most of them are pointing to isn't as detailed as I would like. This tutorial takes the cake! Thanks for a great job!!!

I'm used to doing bias binding for clothing, but wasn't sure how to do binding for a quilt. Your tutorial was perfecto. The only modification I did was to sew the joining end and beginning piece diagonally in order to match the rest of the binding.

Thank you very much for your help. I will make sure to include your tutorial on my blog the next time I modify links. =oD

Thanks you so much for posting such a clear and easy to follow tutorial. I just finished my first quilt and can't believe how well it turned out. I used your site often when I got stuck and always found it so helpful.

Thank you SO much for sharing. I have read many tutes on making binding and I think now I have finally got it. Thanks for taking the time with this and sharing your knowledge.This is an excellent tutorial-right then I am off the make my binding for my first quilt!

I just wanted to thank you for all of your tutorials, especially this one on binding. I have never had anyone close to me that is interesting in quilting, so I am mostly self-taught. You site has been extremely helpful to me - your instructions are so easy to follow! Thanks again - you are a great quilting inspiration to me!

Thank you so much for your clear instructions...I couldn't have finished my quilt for my Mother~in~law without you! I am new to quilting (and blogging, for that matter) and I really appreciate that you've taken the time to put this tutorial together. Thank you again!

Thank you for the SUPER tutorial!! I absolutely LOVE your site! :) I am finishing up my second quilt (one for each of my children), and you have helped me a ton! Especially w/the binding, this quilt is a vast improvement over my first quilt. (I attempted to do the binding following directions in another book and ended up wasting a ton of fabric. :( But your site came to the rescue!) Thanks again! :)

Thank you! You saved me last night. I always have the hardest time joining the binding ends at the very end. I was trying to do another method, it wasn't working, the fabric was already cut (so the tails were short) and I was freaking out! Your method of the 1/2 overlap was so easy. It worked perfectly. Thank you. Thank you. :)

This is an awesome tutorial. Very simple and basic enough for the beginner (me) to understand. Before finding this tutorial I watched several youtube videos and got completely confused. @.@ With this tutorial I was able to finally finish a mini quilt! Thank you so much for posting this. ^_~

Unbelievably helpful. I procrastinated on finishing my daughter's quilt for a YEAR because I was so intimated by the binding. And then I pulled it all together in an afternoon! I only have the hand-finishing to complete & that will be a snap! Thank you so much for posting this tutorial.

There are a lot of tutorials about binding and I think this is one of the most detailed and most informative one. It's great to know that you've shared the step-by-step process of binding since a lot of people would usually have trouble with joining the binding ends. With people who are beginning quilting, this tutorial is surely a big help! Keep on sharing your awesome ideas about quilting!

Finally, a binding tutorial that I can understand. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I completed the binding on a potholder that has been sitting on the side since last January. I wanted to do a small project first, before trying a quilt, and I was so frustrated about the binding part. I can move on now -- and I think I will use your other tutorials to do so! Thank you again!

I just used your tutorial to finish a quilt. I loved how easy it was and will most likely use it again until I don't need step by step instructions. Here's how it turned out: http://craftymisst.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-quilt-finish.html

Doing the tails has been so frustrating for me that I almost want to give up quilting altogether. Some say sew at angles to the ends and I have tried and tried. I have two rulers and I still can't figure them out. YOU have Made it so simple. Thank you, Thank you. What a blessing you are. Judy

Thank you for the tutorial! A question: How do you maintain a 1/4seam with a walking foot? I have a quarter inch foot that is my saving grace when quilting, but it has an edge that requires me to trim the quilt edges before I sew on the binding, otherwise the edge would be dragged across the excess fabric. My bindings come out OK, but there is so much fraying from having to trim in advance of the binding. I would rather do it your way, but I'm not sure how to maintain that 1/4 inch seam. Is there such a thing as a 1/4 inch walking foot?

Wonderful tutorial! You've given me some confidence that I may actually be able to do this! :) The photos were very helpful but it'd be great if you could add photos where your quilt top doesn't match the extra batting. I was a bit confused why you were pinning your binding so far in the quilt for a minute till I squinted at my conputer and realized that was the spare batting!

I just finished another quilt using your tutorial :) Thanks so much for doing it. I got lots of compliments and I always send people to your blog for binding help. I tried machining both sides and it worked ok. You could always post a machine tut ;) Love your quilts!!

Tell me you are left handed. I am following your blog and am working on what I call my first "real quilt". Your tutorials have really helped! I think I am doing this right but I happen to be working right to left with the needle in my right hand.

I just finished a 2 sided t-shirt quilt and needed to know how to bind it as I've never done it before. This tutorial sent from google (and God) was the answer to my prayer! And so, redundantly--I say, Thanks Amanda Jean!

Thank you once again for this. I have this tutorial bookmarked and come back to it every time I do a binding. So simple, yet every time I forget the "secret" to the perfectly mitered corners and getting the binding strip finished off to fit exactly. You have forever changed both my quilting process and the freedom I find in the creative process! Thank you so much!!!

Thanks so much for this tutorial! It has made my life soooo much easier!Nurse Tami - I also have the needle in my right hand and tend to work from right to left...my mom thinks I do it backwards...but it's just the easy way for me to work. :-)

This is a great tutorial, Thank you! I am sewing a wall quilt for my daughters class and I have never done this sort of thing before. Can you sew the final step oppose to hand sewing it? This is going to be a wall hanging and I have very limited hand sewing skills.

Bookmarking this as there are some helpful points I didn't use. I took a class but it's been about a year and I'm just getting around to doing the binding. The part I'm struggling with right now is the hand sewing it down on the back. Mostly because it's taking forever! Thanks for the tips though and hopefully next time I do this my back will look more like yours.

Hi,I just wanted to thank you for this post, it's the one I always come back to, so clear & easy to follow. Tonight I have been finishing he binding on a table runner, my fingers have given up for the evening now though!:)